Soccer Equipment

The history of soccer
shows that so many ancient cultures played a sport similar to modern
soccer that no one can say with any certainty when or where soccer began.
But it is known that the earlier varieties of what later became soccer
were played almost 3000 years ago. Soccer has evolved greatly since
the beginning as well as the sports equipment used to play
the game.

One of the oldest forms of soccer in
which players kicked a ball on a small field has been traced as far
back as 1004 B.C. in Japan. The Chinese kicked a leather ball (filled
with hair) and it is known for sure that a soccer game was played in
611 A.D. in the ancient Japanese capital Kyoto.

The ancient Romans played a game that
somewhat resembled modern soccer. The early Olympic games in ancient
Rome featured twenty-seven men on a side who competed so vigorously
that two-thirds of them had to be hospitalized after a fifty-minute
game. Sports equipment in terms of soccer has always been somewhat minimal
so it is easy to understand why vigorous play can cause injury.

When the game finally arrived in England,
it had acquired a bad enough reputation among British royalty that the
government sometimes passed laws against soccer. In King Edward's reign
of England (1307-1327), laws were passed that posed jail time for anyone
caught engaging in the sport of soccer. Laws, however, failed to stop
the sport, and the game began to gain popularity by 1800s.

The game of soccer today has evolved
to a profound place in the sporting world. A recent World cup which
took place in Korea and Japan was watched by an estimated 33 billion
people around the world for almost 27 days. This makes soccer, the most
watched single sports event in the world's history. This sport
is bigger than baseball, football and basketball combined.

Soccer equipment
requires a few pieces of equipment but in comparison to football
for example, it is very little. Cleats,
shin guards, a soccer
ball and a goal and net
is all a player really needs to play the game.